The present invention relates to a tool for use in connection with vehicle adjustment and repair when it is required, in the course of repair or maintenance work, that the steering wheel, brake pedal or accelerator pedal (or clutch pedal, if present) be placed and retained in a particular position while appropriate work is performed.
Automotive technicians are often called upon to perform repairs, adjustments or maintenance on various elements of the vehicle which require that a control element of the vehicle, such as the steering wheel, brake pedal or accelerator pedal (or clutch pedal, if present), be retained in a particular position while work is performed. For example, when wheel toe-in, toe-out, centering and alignment must be carried out the steering wheel must be reliably held in a fixed position while the work is being performed. Similarly in wheel alignment procedures, the brake pedal must be depressed and held in the depressed position while appropriate work is carried out. Also, in the course of other operations it is required that the engine be driven to rotate at a particular predetermined speed, which is in turn controlled by the degree to which the accelerator pedal is depressed. While the steering wheel, accelerator, brake and clutch pedal positionings could be carried out by one person while another person performs the necessary adjustments, that is obviously uneconomical, and also undesirable to the extent that it requires skill and concentration on the part of the individual to whom the positioning task is assigned. Consequently, there have been available to the technicians tools each of which can accomplish only one of these results and to less than optimum degree of satisfaction. Tools effective to engage and control the steering wheel, and tools effective to depress either the brake pedal or the accelerator pedal are available on the market, but distinctly separate tools are provided for one purpose or the other, thus adding to the initial cost and inventory storage space of the technicians. In addition, tools available for pedal engagement are functionally inadequate, particularly in connection with accelerator pedal control, since they do not adequately provide for precisely adjustable accelerator positioning, which is necessary if the technician is to readily achieve and maintain the proper engine speed while the adjustment work is in process.
In accordance with the present invention, a multi-purpose tool is provided which can not only be used more readily than the individual tools previously available for performing repair and maintenance work which involves the accurate positioning of the steering wheel, the brake pedal, or the accelerator pedal, but in addition constitutes a multi-purpose tool which supplants the plurality of operatively separately functioning tools previously available. Thus the inventory that must be carried by a technician is minimized, leading to reduction in costs and more ready tool availability, and also enabling the requisite repair or maintenance operation to be carried out accurately and reliably.
To that end, the multi-purpose tool of the present invention comprises a structure adapted to engage and extend from the front seat of a vehicle, to which structure one can selectively apply a pedal-positioning element or a steering-wheel-holding element. In its preferred form that structure may provide for relatively rough adjustable positioning of the element attached thereto. That rough adjustment may well be adequate for the positioning of the steering-wheel-holding element, which often can perform its desired function without requiring precise positioning. However, when pedal positioning is involved, and particularly positioning of the accelerator pedal, such rough adjustment may not be adequate. In certain repair operations it is required that the engine be operated at a particular speed, and to accomplish that result the accelerator pedal must be depressed only to a corresponding degree. To obtain precision positioning of the accelerator pedal has been a problem even with prior art tools specifically designed for that purpose. Moreover, if the maintenance operation in process involves an appreciable period of time, as is often the case, it may be necessary to periodically precisely adjust the degree to which the accelerator pedal is depressed to take into account changing engine conditions. Accordingly, in accordance with the present invention, the element of the multi-purpose tool here disclosed which is designed to engage and position the accelerator pedal is itself so constructed that its effective length, and hence the adjusted position of the accelerator pedal, may be precisely altered in one direction or the other while the tool is in place, thus giving the technician the ability to carry out the required maintenance or repair operation in an optimum fashion. That precision adjustment of the length of the pedal-engaging element is best achieved, in the preferred form here disclosed, by having the element formed of two threadedly engaged parts, one of which parts rotatably connects to the seat-engaging structure, so that length adjustment can be achieved without removing the tool from its active position.
Thus the present invention provides for convenience, ready accessibility and low cost, while at the same time providing for improved functioning and control.
To the above objects, and to such other objects as may hereinafter appear, the present invention relates to a multipurpose vehicle repair and adjustment tool as defined in the following claims, taken together with the accompanying drawings.